All Marlins Jose Fernandez on emotional night
Indians clinch AL Central • Cubs Nortch No. 100 • Jays, Detroit lose, Mariners win in AL wild-card race
The biggest Miami Marlin spoke in a whisper, and his teammates gathered close in a circle beside the pitcher’s mound. They were silent. Some of them, young and strong, teared up.
This was just before Monday night’s first pitch, and Giancarlo Stanton said something just for his teammates, something surely about the emotion in this night. They then raised their arms to the sky as one. “One, two, three... “Stanton said. “Jose!” They were all Jose Fernandez on Monday night. All the Marlins. All of them wore No. 16 jerseys. All of them had “Fernandez” on back, rather than their own names, in honor of their teammate killed in a boat crash early Sunday morning.
All these Jose Fernandezes running on the field was the most remarkable sight amid the most horrible news in the most emotional game you never want to see again. How do you play with a broken heart? “I don’t know,” manager Don Mattingly said in the dugout before the game.” In pain. In tears. In shock. That’s the answer, and it describes everything from the Marlins and New York Mets meeting on the field for a group hug before the game – a warm and touching moment – to the final scene when Marlins players huddled at the mound after the game and left their caps on it. Each with No. 16 on them.
The Marlins’ leadoff hitter, left-handed Dee Gordon, took the first pitch of the game right-handed in honor of Fernandez. He moved back to left-handed for the second pitch and hit it into the upper deck. The first home run of his season.
Gordon then became a picture of the full night as he proceeded to break down, crying, as he rounded the bases and reached home plate.
He was bawling, really. Teammates hugged him. Some were crying themselves, Christian Yelich sitting down and putting his head down in his hands.
This, to be sure, wasn’t a night of baseball as much as a night of mourning. Of remembering. Of coming together as a sports community for the first time since Fernandez’s death and dealing with pain as well as possible.
So fans came with tears and flowers. They sold out Fernandez caps and jerseys in the team store to the point a line formed to have “Fernandez” ironed on jerseys. Another line of fans waited to sign a wall outside the stadium adorned with Fernandez’s number and jersey.
Inside the park, before the game, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and super-agent Scott Boras were in tears talking about Fernandez just 15 feet apart from each other.
Here’s the most unsettling part of all this: We’re still in the first inning of dealing with Fernandez’s death. Marlins president David Samson was asked about retiring Fernandez’s number.
“That’s Step 526,” he said. “We’re at Step 19.” (Loria, by the way, said no Marlin will wear No. 16 again.) Nothing is normal now. Nothing fair. Fernandez was scheduled to pitch Monday, and that’s how he liked the mound. It was to be a “Jose Day.”
Instead, the Marlins groundskeepers carried three cans of paint to the mound late Monday afternoon. He painted in a “16” on the back of the mound. A memorial.
You just had to see the players to feel that. Every Marlin was Jose Fernandez this night. Wearing his jersey didn’t stop the tears or subtract the pain. It felt right, though. For the first time in two awful days, something actually felt right. (Sun Sentinel/TNS)
Indians 7, Tigers 4
Coco Crisp hit a two-run home run and Roberto Perez added a solo shot plus an RBI single and Cleveland’s bullpen pieced together five relief innings to help the Indians defeat Detroit clinch their eighth AL Central title.
Crisp and Rajai Davis singled with two out in the eighth before Perez lined a single to center to give Cleveland a 6-4 lead.
Cleveland ace Corey Kluber started but was taken out with right-groin tightness after four innings and 60 pitches, leading 4-2. He allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Dan Otero (four outs) and Brian Shaw (three) each allowed a run before Andrew Miller (10-1) retired five straight batters and was awarded the victory.
Cody Allen picked up his 30th save for pitching the ninth.
Cubs 12, Pirates 2
Javier Baez hit a grand slam and Kris Bryant added a two-run homer as Chicago pounded Pittsburgh for its 100th win of the year.
The Cubs (100-56) reached 100 victories for the first time since 1935.
After Chicago built a 5-0 lead against Pittsburgh rookie starter Chad Kuhl, Bryant hit his 39th homer, a two-run shot, in a six-run sixth for an 11-0 lead.
Yankees 7, Blue Jays 5
Mark Teixeira and Aaron Hicks homered in a five-run ninth inning as New York came back to defeat Toronto.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the bottom of the ninth.
Adam Warren (7-4) pitched two scoreless relief innings to pick up the win.
Mariners 4, Astros 3 (11)
Robinson Cano homered twice, including with two outs in the top of the 11th inning, to carry Seattle to a win over Houston.
Cano cranked his 35th home run off Astros right-hander Luke Gregerson (4-3) with Gregerson one strike away from striking out the side. Mariners right-hander Nick Vincent earned the save, his third, while Drew Storen (4-3) won in relief for Seattle.
The Mariners moved 1½ games ahead of the Astros in AL wild-card race.
Both Toronto, which occupies the top spot, and Detroit lost on Monday while the Orioles were idle.